OK, we're not going to mince words here.  This is it.  You need this book.  It is a must for every home.  It is the entertainer's best friend.  You will wonder how you ever lived without it.  This book presents a tradition that is... not a parody, not a satire, but something else:  an oblique refraction of the essential essence of one of the most important relationships of the twentieth century:  that between the definitively American impulse to come up with an idea that will improve the quality of life through an incremental advance and the post-WWII Japanese tendency to adopt American cultural trends and make them their own, exploiting their own superb technical abilities and ingenious design sensibililties in the process:  In a word, chindogu.  But chindogu is more, it's a reflection on mankind's relationship with the material world, it's meta-materialism; it's a true child of the twentieth century that stands a chance of evolving to become one of the distinctive arts of the twenty-first; and -- it's fun.  Author Kawakami in the founder of the 10,000-member International Chindogu Society, so he should know.  Want another opinion?  Here's the NY Times review.  To learn more visit www.chindogu.com (make sure to learn the ten tenents of chindogu).  But be forewarned:  once you've crossed over, there's no going back.